I grew up with a perception inherited from my parents that if you do not eat fish and meat, you are not getting enough nutritions. Scientifically, I may not have enough knowledge to confirm this, however, from experience, plant-based eating is not only healthy but also tasty and nutritious.
My approach for plant-based eating is to apply mostly veggies and to reduce meat to zero. Instead, I will use tofu, mushroom, egg, shrimp, and peanuts as substitutes.
By reducing the consumption of meat, my body feels lighter and has more energy to stay active. Not to mention, the cooking process is also simpler and faster since such step as deep cleaning or marinating are omitted.
Some of commonly used ingredients that are always there in my kitchen are: carrot, bell pepper, onion, garlic, broccoli, avocado, egg, tofu, brown rice, multi-grain bread, and sometimes mushroom. And popular spice and sauce are: seasoning sauce (soy sauce), peanut butter, hoisin, sriracha, sesame oil, olive oil, fish sauce, pepper and salt.
Here are some of my favorite dishes that I have mixed and matched the ingredients together to diversify my meals. Please note that these are just high level and not go much into details of the amount of ingredients.
- Plant-based chow mien
Ingredients: chow mien noodle, onion, garlic, shiitake mushroom, bell peppers (green, red, yellow), carrot, olive oil, sesame oil, hoisin.
Steps:
- Stir fry garlic and onion in a big pan with olive oil, then pour in carrot and shiitake mushroom, next is bell peppers. Season them with soy sauce, pepper, and some hoisin depending on how sweet you want it to be, you can also add sriracha in at this step if you like it to be spicy.
- Meanwhile, using a pot to boil water and dip the noodle in water for 30 seconds then take out.
- After the mixture of stir fry is okay, put the noodle in, mix them together and season more till you like the taste.
2. Creative veggie mixture with vermicelli
Ingredients: broccoli, carrot, egg, Vietnamese vermicelli, peanut butter, hoisin, soy sauce.
Steps:
- Boil broccoli, vermicelli, and carrot.
- Fry 1 or 2 eggs.
- Make the sauce: mix peanut butter, hoisin and soy sauce together and cook slowly with low heat till they condense together.
- Mix all of those above together and wallah!
3. Veggie stir fry
Ingredients: morning glory/kale/spinach, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper.
Steps:
- Sauteed garlics on a pan with olive oil till they are yellow.
- After washing morning glory and leaving them for drying, put them into with garlic and stir fry for 2–3 minutes depending on what kind of veggie you use.
- Season with salt and pepper and they should be ready by then.
4. Plant-based kimbap
Ingredients: carrot, avocado, tofu, egg, multi-grain rice, sushi rolls.
Steps:
- Cook multi-grain rice and put a bit more water than usual since we want them to stick together.
- Marinate tofu with soy sauce, garlic, pepper and sesame oil for 15 minutes, then put them into oven at 350F for 8 minutes, take out and cut into sticks.
- Chop carrot and avocado into sticks.
- Fry 2 eggs and cut into stripes.
- Roll: lay one sushi roll in a flat area, add one layer of rice, then put carrot, tofu, avocado and egg in the middle, start rolling using your hands or wood. Wait for the rice to settle down within each roll and use a knife with oil to cut the roll into smaller pieces.
- Enjoy it with soy sauce and mayonnaise.
5. Plant-based Pizza
Ingredients: flour (1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 cup of cake flour), instance yeast, mozzarella, bell pepper, zucchini, kale, jalapeno pickle.
Steps:
- Make the dough: mix the flour with 1 pack of instance yeast, then add a cup or so of warm water with some olive oil and salt. Then use your hands to knead it and leave it in a warm environment for 2–3 hours.
- Take the dough out and spread it into a round shape on the pizza tray, add mozzarella on top, then zucchini, bell pepper, kale, and jalapeno pickle.
- Warm the oven to 400 F and put the pizza in for about 15 minutes, then it should be done.
6. Bread
Ingredients: Flour (1 cup of wheat flour, 1 cup of cake flour), sesame seed, sunflower seed, instance yeast.
Steps:
- Mix the flour with instance yeast, warm water, salt, and olive oil, then leave the dough in a warm environment for 2–3 hours.
- Take the dough out and add sesame and sunflower seeds on top, put into an oven at 390F for 30 minutes, check to see if it is good.
7. Plant-based Pad Thai
Ingredients: shrimp, bell pepper, Pad Thai noodle, broccoli, fish sauce, salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic, onion, sugar/honey
Steps:
- Marinate shrimp with salt, pepper, soy sauce, and fish sauce for about 15 minutes.
- Boil the noodle in boiled water until soft.
- Make the sauce by mixing soy sauce, fish sauce, peanut butter, sugar/honey till it tastes like Pad Thai, a bit sweet, a bit salty.
- Sauteed garlic, onion, bell pepper and then broccoli together, season them with the just made sauce.
- When the veggie mixture is about to be done, pour the noodle in and mix them together.
8. Plant-based Vietnamese baguette
Ingredients: baguette, mayonnaise, carrot pickle, cucumber, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, pepper, apple vinegar.
Steps:
- Chop carrot into tiny stripes and put them in a jar with apple vinegar.
- Cut and then marinate tofu with soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, and garlic for 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 400F and bake the tofu for 12–15 minutes.
- Slide cucumber.
- Cut the baguette and fill in with one layer of mayonnaise, then cucumber, carrot pickle, and tofu.
9. Soya milk
Ingredients: Soya beans
Steps:
- Soak soya bean with water for 8 hours.
- Divide the whole soya into many batches, put each match with some water into the blender to blend it.
- Filter out the milk and cook it for about 10 minutes then it should be ready to be served.
Happy plant-based eating!
